Battlestar Xanthi: Four Lost Chapters
by Commmander Nash
Summary: Four lost chapters from the Big X's history, salvaged from the cutting room floor.
1. Xanthi vs Basestar

Author's note: This will be the last _Battlestar Xanthi_ story, completing my trilogy. The original plan was to have just one story. But sometimes these things take on a life of their own. These four chapters are about stuff that was mentioned during _A Collection of Memories_ , but not fleshed out because that would make that story to clunky. Yet, these moments were to significant to leave on the Cutting Room floor, so here they are. Now, without further ado….

 **(Chapter One – Xanthi vs Basestar)**

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – CIC – Day 1140, 0805)**

Commander Peter Magnus walked into the Combat Information Center and took his place at the Command Station. _Xanthi_ had finally finished her shakedown period and was about go on her first duty assignment. That assignment was to escort the support ships _Alexander_ , _Berzerk_ and _Loki_ to the Scorpia Shipyards. Normally, these three ships – and four others – were assigned to the _Battlestar_ _Atlantia_. But they were low on supplies and needed go the Shipyards to stock up. The problem was that the _Atlantia_ and her other ships were needed to guard Ammo Station Seven. (Which was still under construction, so its weapons were still off-line.) So the _Xanthi_ had gotten the job. Magnus turned to Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell.

"Status. XO ?"

"All systems are go, Commander." Mitchell began. "Awaiting your orders to jump to Ammo Station Seven."

"Begin jump prep, Colonel."

"Yes, Commander."

Mitchell began issuing orders. Soon, _Xanthi_ was at Condition One and almost ready to jump. The only thing left to do, was to retract the pods. Magnus gave the order and waited for the pods to move. There was no noticeable effect in CIC, but in his mind he always imagined the thunk of the pods come to a stop in their alcoves. He 'heard' it and gave the order to turn the key. Ten seconds later, _Xanthi_ jumped.

 **(Ammo Station Seven Construction Site – Day 1140, 0810)**

 _Xanthi_ appeared exactly where she was supposed to. The three support ships she was had to guard were already waiting for her. Big X didn't even bother to extend her flight pods. She simply took up her position alongside her three 'sheep' – the codename the brass had given the support ships (while Xanthi was named 'guard dog' in the paperwork) – and did the math. That done, she jumped again….

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – CIC – Day 1140, 0815)**

….straight into her first fight ever. The DRADIS screen showed a Basestar at the edge of range. And it was closing on the Scorpia Shipyards fast. But – unfortunately for them – the _Xanthi_ was between and their prey. And it was on the right course to intercept them. Magnus did the math in his head. He figured that they would be in range in twenty seconds.

Still, he gave the helmsman orders to increase speed to full. The officer did so at once. Next, he turned to the weapons station. It was crewed by Lieutenant Andrea DeSalle. She was a top notch officer and already knew what he was going to ask.

"Targeting solution ready, sir." She said. "Range in five….four…three…two…one."

"This is the XO." Mitchell said into her intercom horn. "All batteries open fire."

 _Xanthi_ cut loose with everything they could muster. And – despite being low on ammo – so did _Loki_ , _Berserk_ and _Alexander_. Between the four of them, they did some major damage. The Basestar was launching her raiders, but Magnus had already seen that coming. So while Mitchell had given her order to the gunners, he had already given the order launch every Viper they had in the tubes. As they launched, he turned to the Helm station.

"Peters…" Benjamin Peters was a fresh-of-the boat Ensign. He had joined the crew on Day 1109 and proven to be an excellent Helmsman. (The man could turn the Battlestar on a dime if the situation called for it.) "...put us on a curve towards the Shipyards."

"Yes, sir." Peters said.

At that moment, another Basestar appeared on DRADIS. Because it was still beyond weapons range and Magnus decided to focus on the first Basestar. And as if the second Basestar was not enough of a problem, the support ships had run out of ammo. It had become a race. They had to destroy the Basestar and get their sheep to the safety of the shipyards. Otherwise, the Basestar would outflank them and blast their charges to pieces. Magnus looked at the DRADIS screen and decided to take a short cut.

"Lieutenant DeSalle, we're nuking that Basestar." He said. "Prepare Tube One."

"Yes. Commander."

DeSalle rushed to get the missile ready. It had been loaded into the tube before they had jumped to Ammo Station Seven. It seemed to take forever….but in the end, the missile's status light on DeSalle's console changed to Ready. Magnus inserted the launch key and turned it. Then he pressed the Fire button. Three seconds later, the Basestar was no more.

"Nice shot, Commander."

But they were far from free and clear. The second Basestar was indeed trying to outflank them. Peters – however – had decided to show some initiative and increased their speed to maximum sub-light. Suddenly, eight missiles hit the Basestar. The effect was like a brick through a plain, glass window. As the Basestar shattered and exploded, two Raptor signatures appeared on the DRADIS screen.

"Where in the worlds…." DeSalle said.

Magnus pondered that question for a second, then realized where they had come from. A huge grin appeared on his face. "The Shipyard. They were parked there for maintenance, waiting for their Battlestar to pick them up. Somebody bent the rules at little…." He looked at Peters. "…like somebody else I know. Well done, Ensign."

"Thank you, sir." Peters said. "Now approaching Scorpia Shipyards, sir."

"Full stop, turn the old girl ninety degrees to starboard." He turned to DeSalle. "I want all the guns turned away from the shipyards. Let's give our Vipers all the cover fire we can muster."

The DRADIS screen was a jumble of signatures. Both Basestars had launched their Raiders and _Xanthi_ was still launching Vipers. The result was a messy dogfight. DeSalle coordinated the Big X's weapons and soon she was shooting down Raiders like they were clay pigeons. But they were still losing good men and women. Fortunately, some of the toasters were dumb enough to enter range of the Shipyards defensive weapons. They were quickly blasted to pieces. Magnus turned to Peters.

"Fire the port thrusters." The shipyards were on the port side of the Big X. "Get us moving."

 _Xanthi_ began moving. It was time for them to do some major toaster shopping.


	2. 6 Pilots and 2 ECOs

**Chapter Two – Six pilots and two ECOs**

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Starboard Hangar – Day 1804, 0700)**

Thomas 'Fixer' Wallace signed the paperwork for Raptor 204 and handed the clipboard back to one of the two crewmen who had delivered the craft. The Raptor was now part of _Xanthi_ 's air wing. He thanked the two crewmen. They nodded and headed for the upper walkway. As they left, Fixer climbed into the craft and got behind the controls. He was no pilot, but he had just enough skills to park the small ship. So he powered up the thrusters and slowly took it up a couple of centimeters. Then he moved the Raptor into its new home. As he parked it, Ensign John Rodriguez approached, followed by Crewman Mark Carriso. Rodriguez was 204's new pilot, while Carriso would be his ECO. Fixer shut the Raptor down and climbed out.

"All yours, John."

"Thank you, Fixer."

He left the two of them to get acquainted with their brand-new bird. There were tons of work to do. And he had to get to it.

 **(Raptor 204 – Cockpit – Day 1804, 0915)**

Rodriguez and Carriso had been called to Pilots Ready Room for a briefing at 0830 hours. It had been about a standard patrol near Ammo Station Seven and had ended at 0900 hours. They were scheduled to launch at 0930. So they had to hurry with their checklist. But so far they were on schedule. Then Rodriguez activated the co-pilots controls. Because they had not needed them, the two folks who had brought the Raptor over from the Scorpia Shipyards had not activated them. It was choice that saved their lives. Because the moment Rodriguez flipped the switch, the board short circuited. The electricity raced through his body and seconds later, he was dead.

 **(Raptor 204 – Cockpit – Day 1805, 0600)**

Fixer finished running a final diagnostic. Carriso had found Rodriguez and called for a Medic right away. But it had been too late. Rodriguez had been buried yesterday – at 2300 – while Fixer and his knuckle draggers had spent the last five hours going over every inch of the Raptor. They had found the problem – a faulty wire, combined with a miss-installed grounding circuit – after a hour of searching. It had been an easy fix. But he was not taking any chances. So they had gone over as much off the small ship as they could. The last diagnostic didn't show any faults. He nodded and left the Raptor.

 **(Raptor 204 – Cockpit – Day 1807, 1751)**

Carriso would rather have flown another bird. But the CAG had shot him down and assigned a new pilot to 204. That job had fallen to Alexandria 'Alex' Kyle. The two of them had flown three patrols together already. Two had been near Ammo Station Seven. After that, the brass had decided that _Xanthi_ was to cover the space near Ammo Station Five.

They had launched at 1600, along two Raptor 81 and Raptor 72. The three of them – along with four Vipers - were to patrol the area for two hours. So far, things were going according to plan.

"No toasters in sight." Carriso said. "How much time left ?"

"Nine minutes. We're in the home stretch now, Mark."

"True, but…."

Before Carriso could finish his sentence, there was an alarm. One of the Vipers – number 1911 – had been hit by a micro-asteroid and was spinning out of control. Alex threw 204 into a wild turn and dodged the Viper. But it was not enough. They collided with Raptor 72. The front window shattered and 204 decompressed. Carriso had managed to get his helmet on. Kyle had not been that lucky. Carriso managed to claw his way to the co-pilot's seat. The Raptor was now in an uncontrolled spin. He stabilized it and set course for the bird barn. It took every ounce of strength he had not to throw up.

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Starboard Hangar – Day 1810, 1127)**

It had taken Fixer three days to glue Raptor 204 – or Widowmaker, as the air wing had begun calling it – back together. He walked around the craft and studied her. He had barely gotten halfway through the inspection, when he heard shouting. He recognized the voice as Mark Carriso. The poor man had lost his lunch the moment he had come back from that fatal patrol. And his (mental) condition hadn't been improving over the past two days. Fixer followed the noise to find Carriso waving a gun and holding a G4 charge. A Raptor pilot – Bertus 'Jolly' Mackenzie – was trying to calm him down.

"Put it down, Carriso." He was saying.

"No, that Raptor is jinxed ! I'm going to do what needs to be done !" He pointed the gun at Fixer. "I'm blowing it to pieces !"

"Put….the….gun….down." Fixer said. "This….won't…..fix….anything."

He stuck out his arm and slowly approached Carriso. But before he could take the gun, the man opened fire. Fixer dove behind a nearby Viper, but Jolly was not as lucky. He was blasted to pieces. As the Raptor pilot fell to the floor, Fixer realized that the Widowmaker had just made her third victim. Jolly had been assigned to replace Alex. But that was an issue for later. He had to deal with Carriso first. The ECO was still shooting. And he was making his way to the Widowmaker. Fixer managed to reach what little was left of Jolly. He grabbed his side arm and ran after Carriso. He caught up to the man just before he reached the Raptor.

"Drop the charge, Carriso !"

"No !" He shouted. "I'm destroying this ship ! And you're not stopping me !"

Carriso aimed the weapon at him, but Fixer was faster. He fired two shots, removing the crewman's head. Then he dropped he side-arm and threw up.

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Commanders Quarters – Day 1810, 1630)**

Fixer, Commander Magnus and Major Leyton were gathered around the Commander's desk. Magnus was one very unhappy camper. He was giving Leyton and Fixer a very nasty look, while leaning forward.

"What the Frak is wrong with Raptor 204 ?" He snapped. "Three pilots and one ECO have died !"

"Well, I can tell you the folks at Scorpia Shipyards were frakking sloppy." Fixer said. "Rodriguez died because they didn't put the co-pilot's console together properly. And we found some problems when we went over 204 afterwards." He put a folder on Magnus' desk. "Here's the list."

"What about Viper 1911 ?"

"Nothing wrong with her, what happened was just plain dumb bad luck." He handed Magnus the maintenance report on the Viper.

"Thank you, Chief." Magnus began. "Major, assign a new crew. Chief, keep an extremely close eye on Widowmaker….I mean, Raptor 204." He ran his hand through his hair. "The last thing morale needs is a 'jinxed' bird. Chief, you're dismissed. Major, we still need to go through a ton of paperwork."

"Yes, sir." Fixer said.

"Yes, Commander." Leyton said.

Fixer got up and headed for the door. Before he exited the room, he took a deep breath and thought about this whole mess. Somebody at Scorpia had decided to cut corners. And a man had a died as a result. He promised himself that this would never happen on his watch. There would be no cutting corners as long as he was Chief.

"Not on my watch."

And with that, he opened the door and headed out.

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Officer's Recreation Room – Day 1817, 0822)**

Frederick 'Heavy' Hendricks - the pilot – and Naomi 'Unity' Morris – the ECO – had set a new record for the Widowmaker. They had gone on numerous patrols over the last five days. And they had managed to come back in one piece every time. The last patrol had been between 0600 and 0800 hours. After securing 204 in her parking spot, they had gone to the Rec Room to play a game of Triad. And Heavy was winning.

"I'll see your ten…" Heavy said. "….and raise you, twenty."

"You're bluffing." Unity said. "Call….your move, Bombrider."

Peter Aurellius studied his cards for a second, then upped the ante another ten cubits. Besides him and the 204 crew, the game had two more players…Tammy 'Ace' Byron – an ECO assigned to Raptor 72 – and Benjamin Peters. Peters was technically not part of the air wing, but since he was a Helmsman – and that officially made him a pilot - he was allowed to use the Rec Room. Ace passed because she was low cubits. And her hand was terrible.

"So." Peters said as he put down ten cubits in coins. "….Heavy, are the rumors true ?"

"What rumors ?" Heavy said, keeping his face neutral.

"That you slept with Commander Hanson's wife." Commander Xavier Hanson was the commanding officer of the _Battlestar Rycon_. He was one of the oldest Commander's in the Fleet. And he was married to a wife - Jennifer - forty years his junior. Also – at least according to the rumor mill - their marriage was far from stellar. "So…."

"I deny everything." Heavy said with a huge grin which made it clear that the rumors were true. "Now, how about…."

Before he could finish the sentence, Ensign Henry 'Cycle' Johnson burst into the room. Johnson was a rookie Viper pilot, who had been aboard for just three days. He plummeted into a chair next to Aurellius, then grabbed Bombriders glass of ambrosia and downed it in one gulp. Bombrider frowned. Cycle was normally not the kind to drink. If he did, it was bad.

"You look like you needed that." Aurellius said. "So, what's the bad news ?"

"Commander Hanson is here." He managed to squeeze out. "And I think he…."

But then it was too late. Because at that moment, Hanson burst into the room. Before anybody could move, the Commander jumped Heavy. He was armed with a rather large knife. Unity and Bombrider ran to grab the Commander, but it was already too late. Hanson had rammed the knife straight into Heavy's heart.

"You frakked my wife, you bastard !"

Heavy grabbed the knife, his hand red with blood. Then his eyes rolled his head and he fell over. Unity and Bombrider dragged Hanson out of the room, while Cycle and Peters checked on Heavy. But he was dead. The Widowmaker had lost her fourth pilot.

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Commanders Quarters – Day 1817, 1520)**

Magnus read the report on the murder in the Rec Room and cursed. Hanson was under lock and key in the Brig, while the official paperwork had been send to Fleet HQ. They were sending people over to take official statements and move the Commander to a jail on Gemenon. And at the moment, the ship's doctor was performing an official autopsy on Heavy.

And – as if this whole mess wasn't bad enough – the rumor mill had spit out something troubling recently. Some of the pilots – Raptor, Viper and Shuttle flyers alike – were using stims. And some were getting addicted. He had ordered the CMO, Leyton, Mitchell and the Master-at-arms to clamp down on this. But he also intended to keep an eye on it himself. For now, however, there was nothing to do. So he continued his day-to-day paperwork.

 **(Raptor 204 – Cockpit – Day 1821, 2150)**

The fifth pilot of 204 was Ensign Claudius 'Hitter' Byers. He had been in the pilot's seat for a hair over four days now. Four blissfully boring days. After an half-hour briefing, they had launched at 2000 hours for a four hour patrol near Ammo Station Eight. Besides 204, there were three more Raptors and eight Vipers. In the back of Widowmaker, Unity was checking the DRADIS screen.

"Nothing but rocks, rocks and more rocks, Hitter."

"Good." He swung the Widowmaker around. "Time to head back to the Bird Barn." The briefing had stated that they were to head back at 2150, so he was taking them back on schedule. "But keep those scanners peeled."

"You got it, boss."

They all landed without any trouble. After that, they parked the Widowmaker. As he put the Raptor down, Hitter yawned. He reached into his pocket and took out a small jar of stims. He took out a single pill and then put the jar away again. Unity gave him a disapproving look. They had both heard the rumors about the addiction problems some of the pilots were facing.

"I know, I know." Hitter said. "Now, let's shut her down."

They ran down the checklist. Finally, Widowmaker was dark and silent. Unity let out sigh of relief. They had survived another patrol in the most jinxed Raptor she had ever heard about. The two of them stepped out of the Raptor, but then things went wrong. Hitter doubled over in pain. Before she could ask what was wrong, he threw up. Then his knees failed him and he went tumbling to the floor.

"Medic !" Unity yelled as Hitter seized on the floor. She grabbed his head so that he didn't hit the Raptor or the floor. "Medic !"

Two knuckle draggers came running, each carrying a medical kit. But it was already too late. Hitter was dead.

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Sickbay – Day 1822, 0330)**

Doctor Norman Cottle pulled the sheet over what was left of Hitter. He wasn't done with the autopsy yet. But he needed a break and he had learned enough to write a preliminary report. Hitter had been killed by contaminated stims. He had tested the pills in the jar and Hitter's blood. Between the results of the two, it was crystal clear that something had gone wrong during the manufacturing process. Cottle grabbed a pen and began writing his report. Commander Magnus would not be happy, but Cottle's job was to give him the facts. Even if it was a truth that the Commander didn't want to hear.

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Corridor – Day 1822, 0735)**

Ensign Victoria 'Zoom' Valerius walked as fast she could without raising suspicions. She was dodging Major Leyton. At the moment, she was assigned to Raptor 81. But she had heard that her days were numbered. Because Leyton needed a new pilot for the Widowmaker. And rumor had it that she was on the short list. So she wanted to stay as far away as possible from the Major. Alas, it was too late. Because Leyton and Aurellius were waiting down the corridor, ready to cut her off.

"Zoom." Leyton began. "Congratulations, you have a new assignment."

Leyton handed her an official order. As expected, she was being transferred to….Zoom frowned…..Viper 1911 ? She led out a deep sigh of relief. Before she could ask why, there was cursing down the corridor. She turned to see Ingrid 'Hyper' Quinn pounding the corridor bulkhead. Hyper had been the pilot of Viper 1911 until….well, several seconds ago. She had survived the collision with Widowmaker with a few scratches, but now – according to the piece of paper Zoom was holding - that she was assigned to Raptor 204. Zoom shook her head and was glad that she had not gotten that job.

 **(Raptor 204 – Cockpit – Day 1824, 1232)**

Unity was driving. Widowmaker had been assigned to a four hour patrol from 1200 until 1600. They were the only Raptor backing up a pack of eight Vipers led by Viper 1911. The pack was patrolling an asteroid belt. So DRADIS was a mess, including the targeting sensors for the rear gun. Hyper was trying to sort it out, so Unity was driving.

"How is it going ?" Unity asked.

"Slow, but the resolution is a bit better." Hyper said as she hit several keys. "We should have Fixer take a look after we land."

Hyper turned a dial and suddenly the main DRADIS screen cleared. It was just in time to see eight Cylon raiders come out the asteroid belt. She yelled and Unity threw Widowmaker through a wild turn. It saved them from the opening salvo. The Viper engaged the raiders, buying Unity and Hyper the time they needed to switch places. Hyper managed to line them up with one of the raiders, while Unity opened fire with rear gun. She managed to hit one, which exploded. Before Unity could re-target, eight more raiders entered DRADIS range.

"Frak !"

Widowmaker dodged and weaved. But it was already too late. The new raiders riddled her with bullets, killing both Unity and Hyper. With nobody piloting her, the Raptor spiraled through space. She would stay there until Raptor 72 collected her and towed her home. There, Fixer and his knuckle draggers would remove the bodies and begin the repairs. And in time, Widowmaker would pass to Gaius Nash and Tammy Byron. And with that, her cursed days were over.


	3. Loss

**(Chapter Three – Loss)**

 **(Xanthi One – Cockpit – Day 1985, 1127)**

 _Xanthi One_ was loaded to the brim and Lieutenant Junior Grade Tyler Williams could feel it. She was reacting sluggish. The Big X was parked next to Ammo Station One for resupply. And that included foodstuffs. But to bring them over by Raptor would take too long. And the Raptors were needed for the Combat Air Patrol. So Williams and Ensign Leopold Danvers – his rookie co-pilot – had been tasked with bringing it all over. And it took both of them to keep the shuttle on course.

"She's all over the place." Williams said.

"I know." Danvers began. "It's taking all the thrusters we have to keep her going in a straight line."

They were approaching the starboard flight pod. It took time, but they managed to land the shuttle exactly where it was supposed to be. Today, that happened to be elevator two. Seven seconds later, the elevator engaged and they were lowered into the main hangar for the pod. As soon as they were in place, several knuckle draggers began unloading the shuttle. At the same time, Williams and Danvers set to inspecting the shuttle for its next run. All was well, until Danvers spotted something.

"Lieutenant, I've found something." He began. "Thruster three is clogged."

"Hang on, Ensign." Williams said as he made his way around the shuttle. "Let's have a look at it…" He studied the thruster and it was indeed clogged. (The nozzle was filled with dust from the asteroids.) "Very clogged indeed. No wonder we couldn't keep it straight."

He made his way to a nearby cart full of tools. It took a bit of search, but he found a duster. He went back to _Xanthi One_ and cleaned out the nozzle. Then he turned to Danvers and told him to go inside and give him a test fire. Danvers nodded and hopped inside. He slid into the pilot's seat and powered up the proper console. After double checking the setting on the thrusters, he pressed the button…

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Starboard Hangar – Day 1985, 1135)**

Williams was standing clear of the thruster. But when it blew, shrapnel went flying everywhere. He was hit by several pieces, but the biggest one slashed him across the leg. His knees buckled and when down. As he hit the floor, Danvers came stumbling out of the shuttle. He looked horrible. After two steps outside of the shuttle, he passed out. Two seconds later, a team of Medics came running. Williams' eyes rolled back in his head and he also passed out.

 **(Battlestar Xanthi – Sickbay – Day 1987, 0930)**

When he woke up, Williams felt like a Viper had landed on his head. He opened his eyes to see Doctor Norman Cottle standing over him. The doctor looked really, really cranky. Of course, Doc Cottle always looked really, really cranky. He tried to sit up, but his body refused to cooperate.

"Au….that hurt."

"What did you expect, genius ?" Cottle began. "You nearly got blown to pieces, wise guy So…." The doctor took out a cigar, bit off the end and lit the thing. "…you want to know how Danvers is doing, or do you not give a frak ?"

"Doc, are you going to talk rubbish, or tell me how he's doing ?"

"Good to hear your brain is still working." Cottle said. "Danvers is fine. Kicked his ass back to flight status yesterday. Of course, he's been spending most of his time gluing that rust bucket you call a shuttle back together again."

"And me ?"

"You're frakking lucky to be alive. If it hadn't been for Fixer and his knuckle draggers calling me right away, you would have bled to death right on the floor." Cottle paused. "But I'm afraid there is bad news…." The look on his face said that was indeed really, really bad. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. But we couldn't save it."

Cottle pulled away the sheet and Williams could see his legs. Or where his legs should be. Because there was only one. His left leg was gone, having been amputated. He screamed at the top of his lungs. Then he closed his eyes and cried himself to sleep.


	4. Darkness on the ice

**(Chapter Four – Darkness on the ice)**

 **(Viper 820 – Day 4571, 1152)**

Gaius Nash opened the throttle all the way and threw his Viper into a wild turn. After leaving the _Xanthi_ – thanks to an idiotic order from the Admiralty – he had been reassigned to _Galactica_. And now he was smack in the middle of Operator Raptor Talon. Which – right now – meant defending the _Columbia._ Her defenses were down and it was up to Gaius and his fellow flyers to cover the Battlestar. So Gaius was chasing two Cylon raiders heading straight for the forward section.

"Come on, you frakkers !"

He fired and his one the raiders, which exploded. The other raider turned on its axis and opened fire. Nash rolled his Viper and dodged the salvo. His wingman, Ensign Thomas 'Dancer' O'Connell, nailed the raider with a salvo to its fuel tank. It was a good shot, but there was no time to say so. Because three more raiders swung into DRADIS range and open fire. Gaius pushed the stick forward to dodge their fire.

"Who's brilliant idea was this operation anyway ?" Gaius snapped as he fired at the incoming raiders.

=/\=Don't look at me, Rufus.=/\= Dance said over the wireless. =/\=I just work here.=/\=

Dancer opened fire as on the raiders as well. He managed to clip one, allowing Nash to finish the job. They were about to target the last one, when an order came over the wireless. They had to clear _Columbia_ airspace. Nash looked at the Battlestar and realized she was in her death throes. He curved away from the Battlestar with Dancer right behind him. The raider chased them, but was quickly cut to pieces by another Viper. Before Nash could see who it was, _Columbia_ exploded. They could hear screams over the wireless.

=/\=Bloody Hell.=/\= Dancer said.

"I know." Nash began. "But you have to keep it together, Dancer. Because this battle is not over."

=/\=Yes, sir.=/\= He heard Dancer swallowed away his nerves. He was a good kid. A bit green, but his heart was in the right place. =/\=Lead the way.=/\=

Nash spotted a group of six raiders heading for _Galactica_. He put his Viper on an intercept course and opened fire. Dancer followed his lead and the fight was on. The next couple of minutes were a frenzy of kills, turns and rolls. By Nash's count, they managed to blast at least eighteen raiders to pieces. Then – out of nowhere – the toasters began turning tail.

=/\= What in the worlds….=/\= Dancer said. =/\=They're all heading back to the Basestars, boss.=/\=

"I have no idea, Dancer. But this either really good or really bad."

As if on cue, the wireless came to life. _Galactica_ 's CO made an announcement that Gaius could barely believe. The Cylons and the Colonies had signed an armistice. The war was over. He needed a couple of deep breaths to collect himself. Then he turned his Viper around and headed home.

 **(Battlestar Galactica – Starboard Hangar – Day 4571, 1210)**

The starboard hangar was chaos. Besides collecting her own birds, _Galactica_ was also taking on surviving Vipers and Raptors from _Columbia_. The knuckle draggers were trying to get the ships sorted as fast as possible, while the Medics were treating wounded and officers were trying to gather information. Gaius and Dancer were on their way to the pilots ready room for debriefing. But when they got there, it was just as chaotic. Two of the seats of the first row were empty. They were about to sit down in them, when somebody yelled.

"Rufus, Dancer !" A male voice began. "Get over here." They followed the voice to Peter 'Bombrider' Aurellius. Bombrider turned to them and handed them a piece of paper. "One of Big G's Viper pilots, William ' Husker' Adama, crashed on the planet. That's the frequency for his beacon. Grab a Raptor and go get him."

"Yes, sir." They both said.

They marched out of the ready room and made their way back to the hangar. Nash bugged one of the knuckle draggers and the man pointed him to Raptor 122, which was ready for action. They climbed aboard and got to work.

 **(Raptor 122 – Cockpit – Day 4571, 1216)**

The Raptor hit the ground about five meters from a building that shouldn't be there. As far as Nash knew, there should have been nothing but ice. Even odder was the huge hole next to the building. Nash drew his side-arm and signaled for Dancer to do the same, which he did. They opened the hatch and moved out, ready to shoot anything that moved. But the only person there was a man in a Fleet flight-suit. He was holding a Cylon machine gun.

"William Adama, I presume ?" He said, while Adama lowered his weapon. "I'm Gaius Nash and this is Thomas O'Connell. We came to get off this snowball."

"Frak that. The toasters were experiment on people down here, there are survivors inside." Adama nodded at the building. "We need to get them out."

"Major, our orders…." Dancer began.

"Put a sock in it, Dancer." He gestured towards the building. "This shouldn't be here. Let's go, Husker."

The three of them moved into the building. Adama took the lead, followed by Nash and with Dancer covering the rear. The place was in pretty bad shape, but the managed to make it into some kind of….lab. There were limbs, organs, pieces of skin and corpses. And that was just what he could see at first glance. Nash had seen some sick stuff over the years, but this place made even his stomach turn.

"What the frak…."

"They're behind this door."

He followed Adama to a door. It was blocked by debris and only partially open. Nash put his weapon away and began clearing the door. Adama and Dancer quickly joined him. But then he smelled something. There was a gas leak on the other side of the door. He managed to put his ear against the door, but there was nothing but a hiss. He figured the toasters had probably used gas stoves to keep the place from freezing up. And whatever had damaged the building had probably snapped the supply pipe.

They managed to clear all the debris. After that, a good deal of burst force was applied to the door. They managed to get it open far enough to squeeze through, but it already too late. The gas had killed them all. They made their way back outside, coughing all the way. As soon as they were outside, they managed to clear their lungs.

"Frak, frak, frak !" Adama yelled.

"This was not your fault, Husker."

"I should have gotten them out." He tossed the Cylon weapon. "Frak !"

"Time to go."

The three of them climbed aboard the Raptor. A minute later, the ship lifted into the sky. They had barely cleared the lab when there was an explosion inside the lab. Nash figured that something had ignited the gas. As the Raptor climbed, he could see secondary – and smaller – explosions below. Within seconds, there was nothing left of the place. There was nothing more they could do, except report what they had seen. He turned the Raptor towards the Galactica and opened the throttle all the way. It was time to get off this rock

 **THE END**


End file.
